Contrary to popular belief, ideas on femininity in the eighteenth century were not so much restrictive as in the nineteenth, at least not where sex was concerned. Catherine Clinton, a professor of American history, elaborates in her book, The Other Civil War: American Women in the Nineteenth Century, that it was even accepted for women to have a high sex drive. Clinton also reveals that it was not uncommon to see a pregnant bride (147). At the turn of the century, however, those free ideals morphed into strict guidelines. Society began to value a woman by her sexual purity and dependent behavior. During the nineteenth century, the type of woman who was most valued was a ‘trophy’ wife, much like Marian Forrester in A Lost Lady by Willa Cather. By the end of the story, Niel Herbert, the protagonist in the book, notices flaws in Marian that ultimately makes him lose respect for her. Overall, Niel’s admiration for Captain Forrester and his disillusionment with Mrs. Forrester is an excellent portrayal of the double-standards present in the nineteenth century.
For the women in the nineteenth century, the most difficult standard to be held to is perfection. No one is perfect, yet in many cultures, a mistake on a woman’s behalf can get her banished from her home or killed, even if she was an exemplary woman despite the mistake. Conversely, when a man makes a mistake, it is often overlooked if not praised and he still retains his integrity. This double-standard is eloquently portrayed in A Lost Lady by Niel’s ability to promptly forget Marian’s benevolence and condemn her. From the beginning, Mrs. Forrester has an innate kindness which she demonstrates when she takes care Niel after he falls out from the tree (Cather 26-29). She proves he...
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...f gender, is far from over, but steps are being taken in the right direction. The key to change is awareness.
Works Cited
Cather, Willa. A Lost Lady. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. Print.
Clinton, Catherine. The Other Civil War: American Women in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Hill and Wang, 1984. Print.
Laurenceau, Jean-Philippe, Lisa Feldman Barrett, and Michael J. Rovine. "The Interpersonal Process Model Of Intimacy In Marriage: A Daily-Diary And Multilevel Modeling Approach." Journal Of Family Psychology 19.2 (2005): 314-323. PsycARTICLES. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
Taylor, Richard. Love Affairs: Marriage & Infidelity. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1997. Print.
Women In Affairs [Electronic Resource (Video)] / Content Media Corporation. n.p.: New York, N.Y. : Films Media Group, [2013], c2011., 2011. Maricopa Comm College District Catalog. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
Both Vanity Fair and A Room of One’s Own explore and challenge the idea that women are incapable of creating a name and a living for themselves, thus are completely dependent on a masculine figure to provide meaning and purpose to their lives. Thackeray, having published Vanity Fair in 1848, conforms to the widely accepted idea that women lack independence when he makes a note on Ms Pinkerton and remarks “the Lexicographer’s name was always on the lips of the majestic woman… [He] was the cause of her reputation and her fortune.” The way that a man’s name was metaphorically “always on the lips of the majestic woman” and how he was the source of “her reputation and her fortune” expresses this idea, especially through Thackeray’s skilful use of a sanguine tone to communicate that this cultural value, or rather inequality, was not thought of as out of the ordinary. From viewing this in a current light and modernised perspective...
The title character of Catharine Maria Sedgewick’s novel, Hope Leslie, defies the standards to which women of the era were to adhere. Sedgewick’s novel is set in New England during the 17th century after the Puritans had broken away from the Church of England. Hope Leslie lives in a repressive Puritan society in which women behave passively, submit to the males around them, and live by the Bible. They allow the men of their family to make decisions for them and rarely, if ever, convey an opinion that differs from the status quo. However, Hope Leslie does not conform to the expected behavior of women during that time, behavior that only further expressed the supposed superiority of males. Hope portrays behaviors and attitudes common in a woman today. Hope is capable of thinking for herself, is courageous, independent, and aggressive. Sir Philip Gardner describes Hope as having “a generous rashness, a thoughtless impetuosity, a fearlessness of the… dictators that surround her, and a noble contempt of fear” (211). In comparison to Esther Downing, Hope is the antithesis of what a young Puritan woman should be, and in turn, Hope gains a great deal of respect from the readers of the novel through her “unacceptable” behavior.
Salisbury, Joyce E. and Andrew E Kersten. “Women in the United States, 1960–1990.” Daily Life through History.ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Eggleston, Larry G. Women in the Civil War. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003. Print.
The 19th Amen... ... middle of paper ... ... Women And The Politics of the 1920s. " OAH Magazine of History 21.3 (2007): 22-26. Academic Search Premier.
As progressive era reforms advanced from the 1880s to t 1920s, women took on a significant role in political change with specific regard to the ratification of the 19th amendment and social conditions with emphasis on women’s reproductive rights and restraint from alcohol.
During the Nineteenth Century, the gender roles were greatly divided. Women were seen to have a completely differently status and nature from men. The stereotypical woman during this time-period was dependent, passive, domestic, and far weaker then a man. Men on the other hand, were far more dominant, dependent, controlling, ambitious and active. Men were the protectors and providers for the family. As if women weren’t already inferior enough to men, when they got married, essentially everything that was theirs was striped from them. What she once owned, was now her husbands, this included her savings, her land, her slaves, her freedom and especially her independence (Steele and Brislen). Women were expected to just do their household duties and be content with their lives and want nothing more. This lead wives to live in the shadows of their spouse. It is Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a feminist writer of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century who illustrates the discord of the gender roles of this time-period. One of her most famed writings is “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In this short story, we read about a spouse who is totally dominated by her husband John, and we follow her while she is away rejuvenating herself from an illness. Feministic literature of this time, really focuses on the inferiority of women against men.
towards African Americans are presented in number of works of scholars from all types of divers
...information I learned from this project was that awareness breeds change. If we do not recognize there is a problem, then nothing will be altered. But acceptance of gender stereotypes and advertising especially those involving our own gender identities will lead to a future filled with equality for men and women alike.
Schneider, Dorothy. American Women in the Progressive Era 1900-1920. New York: Facts on File, 1993.
Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” Nineteenth Century Literature March 1966: 102-106. Jstor. On-line. 10 Nov. 2002.
Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 4th Ed. -. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 1996. 293-307. Hewitt, Nancy. A. "Beyond the Search for Sisterhood: American Women's History in the 1980's.
19th-Century Women Works Cited Missing Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail, as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so. One of the most common expectations for women is that they are responsible for doing the chore of cleaning, whether it is cleaning the house, doing the laundry.
Although Mrs. Forrester is able to end her life as a happy person, before that the reader witnessed a huge shift in her attitudes toward life. In large part, was due to the difficult transition from the Old World to the New World that Mrs. Forrester endured. At first, Niel finds Marian as the ideal women who represented the Old World but failed to realize it was a false image. With that, he is at a lost when he cannot save the “old” Mrs. Forrester. Mrs. Forrester leads to becoming what the reader knows as the acclaimed lost lady who confronts the realization that times have changed especially as Mr. Forrester passes.
During the 1800s, society believed there to be a defined difference in character among men and women. Women were viewed simply as passive wives and mothers, while men were viewed as individuals with many different roles and opportunities. For women, education was not expected past a certain point, and those who pushed the limits were looked down on for their ambition. Marriage was an absolute necessity, and a career that surpassed any duties as housewife was practically unheard of. Jane Austen, a female author of the time, lived and wrote within this particular period. Many of her novels centered around women, such as Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, who were able to live independent lives while bravely defying the rules of society. The roles expected of women in the nineteenth century can be portrayed clearly by Jane Austen's female characters of Pride and Prejudice.